This fact is undeniable that most of the people consider about how to pay off the student debts or to benefit from Student Loan Repayment Programs. It is also a known issue that there are a lot of different ways to repay student loans, but the main question is which student loan repayment program is suitable for you.
In our previous articles, we gave information about the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.
This program is an excellent opportunity for government and nonprofit employees. A student who benefits from the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program is eligible to get rid of loan balance forgiven tax-free after making 120 qualifying loan payments.
Student can benefit from the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program by making most of those payments on a federal income-driven repayment plan.
In order to understand the whole process, you should have some knowledge about the Student Loan Repayment Program Options. These options depend on your social income and your financial situation as well. In this article, we will introduce you the programs that could help you deal with the problem.
Which Student Loan Repayment Program is suitable for me?
There are a lot of Student Loan Repayment Program options which help people to pay off their loans. One of these programs is The Standard Repayment Plan, and this option is for those who have a consistent monthly salary. The program requires to pay off each month. This option could be beneficial for people who do not have problems with payments.
Of course, if you have bills or credit debts, it will be hard to deal with the situation. When you want to repay your student loans this way, then you should pay the same amount money each month, and the payment must be at least $50. Additionally, the payment continues up to 10 years, so you need a fixed income and stable job.
Is the Graduated Repayment Program is better than the Standard Repayment Plan?
If you have recently graduated and started to pay off your student loans, the Graduated Repayment Program is one of the student loan repayment programs. When the student chooses this option to repay his/her loans, he/she begins with the lower payments and over the time the scale of payment increases every two years. By choosing this option, you should pay off your debts up to 10 years. This student loan repayment may seem easy, but do not forget that the amount of payment is getting increased every two years.
The Best Option for Student Loan Repayment Program
An extended repayment program is an excellent option for those who have financial problems. This repayment program is the best convenient way for students who could not meet monthly expenses or have huge student loans. Choosing this program gives you a chance to pay off student loans during 25 years. In this program, monthly payments can be either fixed or graduated. There are some cons about this plan: to be qualified for this option you have to have at least $30,000 in debt in Direct or FEEL loans. Even if you have the half amount of this debt in Direct, then you cannot benefit from this student loan repayment program.
What is the best flexible repayment program as a student loan repayment option?
The Income-Based Repayment Plan is one of the best options to pay off student debts. The good side of this program is that most of the people could take advantage of this. The program does not have many requirements as the other ones. In this program, payment is not fixed, and this flexibility gives you a chance to deal with your student loans. You have to pay 15% of your discretionary income. Also, the payments are changing as your income rises and falls. The program gives you an opportunity to pay off your debts during 25 years. After 25 years payment, your loans will be forgiven, but you might have to pay income tax on the forgiven amount. The drawback of the program is that this student loan repayment program is not available to everyone. To be available to IBR you should have “Partial Financial Hardship.” Partial Financial Hardship is an amount that set your payment.
Which option suitable for you if you have financial issues?
There is another similar program as student loan repayment option. This program is known as Pay As You Earn.
This repayment plan is also identical to the previous one. PAYE can be count one of the best student loan repayment options. This repayment plan takes your 10% of your monthly income. Another advantage of this program is that the payment is flexible and if you have a financial problem this option is the best one. To add, we can say that this program was created as a part of President Obama Student Loan Forgiveness Program.
In PAYE, payment is also flexible and depends on your income and you can repay your debts for up to 20 years.
What is the Income-Contingent Repayment Plan?
This loan repayment program is also an alternative to the other student loan repayment programs. The Income-Contingent Repayment Plan is also a suitable option for students. This repayment program is also based on income and calculated each year depending on income, financial situation. Another important side of this program is that the payment is flexible, however, as we mentioned above the payment is annually fixed. Students could pay off the debts for 25 years. Another advantage of this program is that after 25 years your debts will be forgiven.
What is the Income-Sensitive Repayment Program?
This program is a great opportunity for those who have problems with student loans. The Income-Sensitive Repayment Program could be called as a short-term Income-Contingent Repayment Program. The ISR Program offers flexible repayment. What makes this program different from the previous one is that the maximum loan term for this program is only ten years. In the Income-Sensitive Repayment program, your annual payment is determined by your lender; thus the payment formula might be different.
Which Repayment Loan is the best choice?
Repaying the student loans is not easy, because you should know which program is the best choice for you. To choose the student loan repayment program, you need be aware of all options. First of all, you need to be qualified for one of these programs cause all of the repayment programs are different from one another even if they share a range of commonalities. For example, some offer a shorter or longer loan term options and the majority of them demand a stable job and annual payment as well. Another important issue is your bills and financial income. Additionally, some of the counted programs give you a chance to get rid of the loans after a long-term repayment.
What should I do when I want to change the repayment option?
If you decide to change your student loan repayment plan, then you had better contact your lender.
The lender can help you to choose the suitable program for repayment as well as show you available plans and options. In this case, lenders could be agencies, companies or any groups which help you handle the process.
The repayment process can seem too huge overcome, but choosing the best repayment program will help you to deal with this issue.
